Language/Amharic/Grammar/Comparing-and-Contrasting

Grammar ⇨Comparing and Contrasting in Amharic

Here are some adjectives, and their verb forms, which are commonly used in Amharic to compare and contrast items:

ትልቅ tïlïk’ = ይተልቃልyïtälïk’al

ጠባብ t’äbab = ይጠባል yï t’äbal

ረዥም räžïm/ räjïm = ይረዝማል yïräzïmal

ትንሽ tïnïš = ያንሳል yansal

አጭር ač’ïr = ያጥራል yat’ïral

Examples

ይህ ሸሚዝ ይተልቃል yïh šämiz yïtälïk’al. ይህ ግን ያንሳል yïh gïn yansal.

ከዚህ ጉርድ ቀሚስ ያኛው ይረዝማል käzih gurd k’ämis yaňňaw yïräzïmal.

Adding the adjective በጣም bät’am shows a greater degree, equavialent to the English በጣም “very”:

• ይህ ሸሚዝ በጣም ይተልቃል yïh šämiz bät’am yïtälïk’al. This shirt is very large.
• ይህ ጉርድ ቀሚስ በጣም ያጥራል yïh gurd k’ämis bät’am yat’ïral. This skirt is very short.

በጣም bät’am is used with descriptive adjectives as well as verbs. The words bät’am and እጅግ በጣም ïjjïg bät’am show greater degrees, according to the following:

Examples:

ይህ ጃኬት ትልቅ ነው	ይህ ጃኬት በጣም ትልቅ ነው	ይህ ጃኬት እጅግ በጣም ትልቅ ነው
yïh jaket tïlïk’ näw.	yïh jaket bät’am tïlïk’ näw.	yïh jaket ïjjïg bät’am tïlïk’ näw.
This jacket is big.	This jacket is very big.	This jacket is so very big!

Compare the above examples to:

• ይህ ጃኬት ይተልቃል Yïh jaket yïtälïk’al. This jacket is big (compared to another).

Source

https://www.livelingua.com/peace-corps/Amharic/Amharic%20Peace%20Corps%20Language%20Manual-2015.pdf

Other Lessons

• Compound sentence
• The Definite Article
• Expressing Obligation or Necessity
• Simple Past Tense Forms of Other Verbs (Negative)
• Negative Present Future Tense
• Making Suggestions Using “Let”
• Pronouns
• Complex Sentence
• The Possessive Adjectives
• Conjugation of the verb መኖር “to live” (present tense)